Merchant

Accepting card payments with a mobile phone is becoming as American as baseball and apple pie now that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is selling the Square Inc. reader that turns any smartphone into a card-acceptance device.

Travelex Global Business Payments Inc. is using new software to offer an online payment program designed to save U.S. universities time and money by eliminating manual tracking when various exchange fees cause an international student’s payments to be less than what is owed, the Washington, D.C.-based company announced Oct. 13.

Google Wallet is riding on an active trend to connect retailer loyalty programs to mobile-payment systems.

When merchants fail to qualify for a cash advance because of bankruptcies, liens, foreclosures, credit scores below 550 or undesirable Standard Industrial Classification codes, independent sales organizations can turn to a handful of companies that specialize in the “decline” market.

Before undergoing major technical tasks related to preparing point-of-sale terminals for the Single Euro Payment Area, French terminal maker Ingenico SA says it will have a key voice in establishing security and payment scheme standards for the single European market.

Citing strong cardholder spending increases across the board, American Express Co. on Oct. 19 said its U.S. Card Services unit produced income of $733 million during the quarter ended Sept. 30, up 23.2% from $595 million a year earlier.

U.S. Bancorp on Oct. 19 reported positive third-quarter earnings driven by increases in fee-based revenue, including higher payments-related income.

Google Inc. is entering the transit space through a partnership with the New Jersey Transit Agency, which will enable Google Wallet users to purchase tickets at select vending machines and ticket windows and pay fares on seven bus routes.

The acquiring industry is outsourcing some of the work involved with a new requirement to report merchants’ transactions to the Internal Revenue Service, a task some have characterized as worse than a bad dream.

Banks involved in the creation of a Single Euro Payment Area in Europe must view it as an opportunity to rebuild a payments system from scratch instead of as an overly complex challenge in which applying new standards to an old system will suffice, a new report by Boston-based research firm Celent asserts.